Shaindy Alexander has been practicing at SickKids for 21 years as a certified child life specialist. Currently, she is working with the palliative care team providing psychosocial support for families living with uncertainty and grief. Before this role, she delivered care within the burns/plastic surgery, hematology/oncology, and critical care. She is passionate about partnering with youth and families as they find ways to include and support each other through their illness journey.

Paul is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Clinical Director of Burns at the New Zealand National Burns Centre. Paul is the New Zealand Vice President of ANZBA (Australian and New Zealand Burn Association).

I have been working as a pediatric nurse at the Children`s Hospital Zurich for nine years and I love my job.
For the last two years I have been working as a head nurse in the burn unit sharing this position with Angela.
I love skiing, travelling and spending time with friends and family. Together with my partner Flo I live in the heart of Zurich.
My passion next to the burncare is transcultural care. I’m working in a Advanced Nursing Practice Team in which we try to help all the different teams at the Kispi to handle transcultural challenges.

Sophie Böttcher is a pediatric surgeon specialised in pediatric burn care and is currently a consultant at the Pediatric Burn Center of the University Children’s Hospital Zurich. Next to her clinical work, she leads a large research team focusing on the development and clinical application of skin tissue engineering products.

“Dr Campbell is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the
University of Toronto, Director of the Chronic Pain Program in the Department of
Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, and Co-director of the SickKids Pain Centre at SickKids.
Fiona is former President of the Canadian Pain Society and was Co-chair of Health
Canada’s Canadian Pain Task Force, which in 2021 published An Action Plan for Pain in
Canada. She was on the steering group that this year launched the world’s first Pediatric
Pain Management Standard. Dr Campbell received the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award
in Science from McMaster University and in 2023 received the Canadian Pain Society
Distinguished Service Award.”

Marta Cervo, born in Milan in 1991, graduated in physiotherapy and post-graduated in pediatric physiotherapy.
Actually working as pediatric physiotherapist at Meyer Children’s Hospital IRCCS of Florence.
Areas of expertise: Burn Center, Oncoematology Unit, NICU and Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Ronald Cohn has served as President and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children since May 1st, 2019. Dr. Cohn joined SickKids in 2012 as Chief of the Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, Co-Director of the Centre for Genetic Medicine, and Senior Scientist, Research Institute.

Jian graduated from the Master of Science in Physical Therapy program at the University of Toronto in 2020. She joined the Burn Team at SickKids in early 2021 and has a passion for working with children with burn injuries to help them return to their meaningful activities and function.

Mr Murphy graduated from UCD in Ireland and is currently on the national Plastics training programme. Current areas of interest are burns surgery and general plastics paediatrics. Apart from his Irish experience he has also spent three years working in Melbourne Australia in trauma and plastics surgery units.

“Dr. Matthias B. Donelan is a Board-certified Plastic Surgeon and Chief of Staff, Emeritus, at the Shriners Hospital for Children-Boston. He graduated from Harvard College in 1967 and received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1972. While in medical school he spent an elective year as a Student Fellow in Pathology. Residency training in Surgery and Plastic Surgery was carried out at the Massachusetts General Hospital, leading to board certification in both specialties.
Following residency, he spent a year as Plastic Surgical Tutor Specialist working with Sir William Manchester at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Dr. Donelan is currently an Associate Professor of Surgery (pt) at Harvard Medical School and a Visiting Surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has had a busy private practice of plastic and cosmetic surgery for his entire career.
Dr. Donelan is an internationally recognized expert in the field of burn reconstructive surgery and has developed numerous innovative techniques to enhance the care of burn patients. He has multiple publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has written definitive textbook chapters on burn reconstruction. Dr. Donelan has long been an advocate for scar rehabilitation through tension relieving operations and advanced laser technologies. He recently received a 2020 ASLMS Presidential Citation recognizing his work in applying the benefits of lasers to burn patients. He won the Founders Award at the 2022 NESPRS for the best scientific paper. He is currently serving on the Board of the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery. “

Dr. Duncan is a fifth-year plastic surgery resident at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She completed an undergraduate biology degree at Mount Allison University, medical school at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, and has since been in Halifax completing postgraduate training in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Dalia graduated from Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia in 2016. She is currently a member of the Burns and Plastics team at SickKids Hospital. Dalia works with children who sustained a burn injury and provides gold standard treatments in order to maximise independence and quality of life.

Dr. Joel Fish specializes in burns and complex wound care and is currently is the Medical Director of the Burn Program at SickKids. Dr. Fish’s clinical practice focuses on the treatment of pediatric burn injuries which includes the full continuum from the acute injury, rehabilitation, and secondary reconstruction.

Tee Garnett is 7th generation Canadian, the great granddaughter and descendent of Charlotte & James Handy, residents of Princeville and Grey County Oro-Mendes Road Black settlement. Tee has been developing equity and inclusion-based services with marginalized communities and programs for close to three decades, in roles that bring attention to the systemic barriers that impacts the quality, safety, and dignity of vulnerable community members. Tee’s work as a senior executive provides the expertise required when supporting leaders in change management – however it is their genuine openness and warmth that invites people to lean into difficulty and unfamiliar conversations and spaces. Tee is committed to offering transformational equity, which involves providing the psycho-educational cognitive support to leaders who are interested in creating more equitable and safer workplaces. In their spare time they enjoy yoga, reading, gardening and spending quality time with their fiancé, 2 sons and 3 grandchildren

Prof. Germain is director of the LOEX Tissue Engineering Center. Her research on stem cells and reconstruction of human tissues led to three clinical trials. Her contribution to health research was recognized by CRC, CIHR, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (Fellow) and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (Member).

Heidi Gottwald is co-founder of Paulinchen – Initiative for Young Burn Survivors and has been a member of the board in different positions since 1993. Her main concern has always been to advocate for every child with burn-related injuries to receive the best possible care. 2017 she was awarded with the Cross of Merit, 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her immense voluntary commitment.

Dr. Eduardo Gus completed his medical degree at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and undertook General Surgery and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery specialty training in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He is a board certified Plastic Surgeon since 2010. Gus pursued fellowship training in adult and paediatric burns, paediatric plastic surgery, and breast reconstruction at the University of Toronto, which were followed by an appointment at the Victorian Adult Burns Service in Melbourne, Australia. He returned to the Division of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery in 2021, and his clinical practice interest encompasses acute and reconstructive burn surgery, complex wounds, scar management, laser therapy, skin lesions, and breast conditions in the paediatric population. Dr. Gus’ research interest centres on understanding burn epidemiology and informing policies for burn injury prevention. Gus has contributed to multiple book chapters and peer-reviewed publications, is an active member of numerous burn associations, and is a peer-reviewer for scientific journals in the field of paediatric burns.

Dr. Hayes is a Staff Anesthesiologist at SickKids Hospital and has been a member of the Anesthesia-Burn Liaison group since its inception in 2015.

My name is Martin Hladik and I am resident and PhD student in Burns and Plastic Surgery from University Hospital Brno, Czech Republic. My field of research in my PhD include wound healing, burns and implementation of perinatal derivates in wound healing.

“Serious burn injuries typically cause devastating wounds which require both early
treatment strategies and consistent care to regenerate healthy tissue. Due to the lack of
resources in autologous skin grafts and limitations of current wound treatments which are
time-consuming and costly, burn wounds have a critical impact on the health and quality
of patients’ life in particular severe pain, function, and mobility loss, social stress and
isolation, depression, prolonged hospitalization, financial burden, and high rates of
mortality. We have developed an active microfluidic non-adhesive wound dressing to
enable long-term control of the wound environment by seeding cells and collecting
exudates regularly. We hypothesize this control will facilitate and accelerate wound
closure hence wound healing and reduce rates of infection and scar tissue formation. An
array of microfluidic channels enabled in situ 3D bioprinting, as therapeutic cells including
fibroblasts and keratinocytes were deposited through multiple outlet ports in vitro and in
vivo on a mice dermal skin surface at an early point in wound treatment to study the cell
clustering and proliferation at each delivery points by DAPI, Live/Dead staining, and
Masson’s trichrome staining. An ‘H-tree’ network design was chosen to provide uniform
flow and delivery to 2 and 64-port devices. The fluid flow rates, and uniformity have been
studied by particle tracking (PIV) measurements and numerical simulations. We
hypothesize that our microfluidic device will provide dynamic control of the wound
environment as well as enhance the rates of skin regeneration and reduce infection to
significantly improve therapies for burn and wound care. The effect of hydrogel (e.g.,
Collagen and gelatin) substitutes as well as cell-laden hydrogels as ECM for delivering
dermal cells have been studied and showed that hydrogel carriers can promote cell
clustering at the outlets that can accelerate wound closure and healing process.
The scalability of the microfluidic wound dressing up to 64-port and 100 cm2 surface area
will be studied further in terms of uniform cell and hydrogel delivery in time intervals. Also,
this form of in situ bioprinting of cells and hydrogels will be compared to conventional 3D
bioprinting in terms of cell proliferation and wound healing processing time using an in
vitro wound model. In vivo experiments on big animal models will be the final step in this
research.
Figure 1. Conventional appro”

“Charis completed 2 undergraduate degrees from Queen’s University before receiving her Masters of Nursing and Nurse Practitioner designation in 2004. She has worked at SickKids since 2000 transitioning from bedside nurse, to Nurse Educator and has been the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in the Burn/Plastic Surgery Program since 2007.

Charis provides comprehensive care to pediatric burn patients and their families throughout the entire continuum of care. She utilizes her expertise afforded to her as an NP to coordinate inpatient care as well as discharging patients efficiently. She ensures families are well transitioned to the outpatient setting. Charis is highly skilled at providing pain and anxiety management for this vulnerable population ensuring optimal quality of care. She independently leads her own Nurse Practitioner Burn Clinic where she effectively cares for her patients and families ensuring all Burn Team members provide needed services. She focuses on treating the pediatric burn population as well as children with complex wounds and skin conditions. She has played a valuable role having SickKids recognized as the first Verified Pediatric Burn Program in Canada as well as the creation of the Laser Therapy Program for Burn Scar Modulation, making SickKids the first pediatric facility to provide this therapy in Canada.

Charis is on the Pain Matters Committee; additionally she is a member of the RNAO, NPAO and American Burn Association. She is Chair of the Burn Prevention Outreach Committee at SickKids where she has spearheaded prevention materials such as a video news release which has been translated into a variety of languages as well as a poster which won the People’s Choice Award at the 2013 ABA Conference. Charis’s contributions have been recognized locally by her peers as well as provincially having received the 2012 Grace Evelyn Simpson Reeves Excellence Award in APN Category and the 2013 Toronto Star Nightingale Award.”

Dr. Anjay Khandelwal is the Marcie M Matthews Endowed Chair for Excellence in Burn Care, and Director of the Burn Institute at Akron Children’s Hospital – a verified adult and pediatric burn center. In addition, he serves the Program Director for the Acute and Reconstructive Burn Fellowship and Director for the Reconstructive Laser Program. As an internationally recognized burn surgeon, Dr. Khandelwal’s clinical practice includes acute burn care and burn reconstruction, including laser scar management, and he is actively involved with burn education, international outreach, and research.

Dr. Břetislav Lipový specializes in burns, regeneration medicine and intensive care (inhalation injury, infection control). He holds the position of Full Professor in the Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery Masaryk University Brno.

“Sharon is an Educator with the Mental Health Portfolio at SickKids and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Social Work.
She has 20 years of clinical experience and has a passion for building awareness in the healthcare sector about the prevalence of trauma in patients, caregivers and staff, and advocating for a trauma-informed approach to navigating health care interactions.

Sharon was recently awarded the University of Toronto’s MD Program Teaching Award for excellence in education. “

Jason T Maynes, PhD/MD is the Chief of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine and the Associate Chief of Perioperative Services (Research) at the Hospital for Sick Children. He is the holder of the Curtis Joseph and Harold Groves Chair in Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Dr. Nicole McKinnon, originally from British Columbia, completed her MD and PhD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. Her PhD work focused on understanding the structure and function of the superfamily of neuronal cys-loop receptors. Recently her research has focused on understanding neuronal communication and network changes following cardiac arrest, stroke and TBI. This is also her passion in ICU medicine – understanding and improving neurological outcome following critical illness. Dr. McKinnon completed her residency in Paediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian and Columbia University, followed by a fellowship in Paediatric Critical Care at the Children’s Hospital in Colorado. Following this, she undertook an additional year of training in the developing field of pediatric neuro-critical care, at the Hospital for Sick Children. She joined the faculty in the Department of Critical Care in 2020.

Miriam Miguel- Ferrero, MD, is a consultant paediatric surgeon at the Paediatric Burn Unit of the Hospital La Paz, Madrid, Spain. She is active in the practice and teaching of Paediatric Plastic Surgery, with particular clinical and research focus in the area of advanced paediatric burn care.

Dr. Moulton majored in Russian Language and Literature at the University of Washington and graduated from the UW School of Medicine. He trained in general surgery at the University of California, San Diego and in Pediatric Surgery at the State University of New York, Brooklyn. He is board certified in General and Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Munshey completed his undergraduate and medical training at UBC, anesthesiology residency at the U of S and pediatric anesthesia fellowship at Stanford. He is a clinician teacher with research interests in pediatric regional anesthesia and point of care ultrasound. He is the current Regional Anesthesia Lead for the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. He has incorporated in his clinical practice the use of a variety of facial plane blocks, upper/lower extremity peripheral nerve blocks, and use of ultrasound for difficult IV access.

Patrick O’Donohoe is an Irish trainee surgeon, currently in the second year of Higher Specialist Training in Plastic & Reconstructive surgery under the guidance of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. He has a particular interest in burns surgery, and the subject of his Masters in Surgery (MCh) thesis was the use of silver in infant patients, and will be the basis of his presentation at this conference.

I am Ivana. I work as a registered nurse in the surgery department and in its relative burn unit at the Meyer Children’s Hospital in Florence. I have been passionate of this job since I began, in April 2020. I will improve my skills soon starting my studies for the Master’s Degree.

Shakirov B.M.- Burn physician, assistant department surgery with eighteen years of experience, working at Samarkand State Medical University. Currently Shakirov B.M. is a member of the International Society for Burn Injuries (ISBI No. 3371), European Burns Association (EBA No. 468), Mediterranean Council for Burns and Fire Disasters (MBC), IPRAS. Shakirov B.M. specializes in burn patients and is responsible for educating other employees, students on using progressive systems and applications, including analyzing, treatments. Author of more than 160 scientific papers.

Dr. Singh is one of Canada’s first physicians to specialize in clinical artificial intelligence. He is an emergency physician at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and holds a Masters in Computer Science degree from the University of Toronto. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in both the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Division of Computer Science and is an emerging scholar helping to innovate the regulatory, privacy, and ethical landscape for AI in Canada and beyond.

Rajan K. Thakkar, MD, FACS, is a pediatric surgeon at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is also the Trauma Medical Director as well as the Co-Director of the Burn Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and is a Principal Investigator at the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences Research at the Research Institute of Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research focuses on pediatric thermal injury. Dr. Thakkar attended The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He completed his residency at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and completed his fellowship in Pediatric Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

“I have been working as a pediatric nurse at the Children`s Hospital Zurich for twelve years and I find the wide range of challenges in my profession brings stimulating.
I have been the head nurse of the burn unit for five years now, sharing this position with Katja for the last two years.
I have a two year old daughter, Sophie, who is completing my life. Together with her and my husband Thomas I live in Zurich.
Next to the burncare I am very involved in the implementation of the family centered care to the Kispi.
I also visited lectures from Lorraine M. Wright and Maureen Leahey. “

Carine works as a Research and Innovation Manager at the Dutch Burns Foundation. In this role I am coordinating funding opportunities for research and innovation projects in the Dutch Burn Care Centres. In addition, I am project manager of the P-ABC project and a Value Based Health Burn Care project.

Mark Yaconelli is the author of Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us. As founder and director of The Hearth nonprofit, Yaconelli has worked with Compassion International, The Eli Lilly Foundation, and the The American Burn Association. He lives with his wife in Ashland, Oregon.

Dr. Jennifer Zuccaro is a clinical researcher in the Burn Program at SickKids. Her main area of research focuses on understanding the use of light-based technologies for treating symptomatic burn scars in pediatric patients. In addition, Dr. Zuccaro is also interested in determining which technologies are best suited for scar evaluation.